This week we continue reading books about baseball and about science. In addition, and with reference to their previous "gingerbread man" studies, the DK classes will hear The Matzah Man: A Passover Story, by Naomi Howland. For specific titles read aloud this week please click on Weekly Readalouds.

This Thursday night, March 29, is Family Science Night. It starts at 6:00 p.m. and is free of charge to all Pennekamp families. In support of this awesome event, the library will display science-themed books all week.

Thanks and congratulations to the 5th-graders for putting on a wonderful Richstone Feast--a fundraiser for the Richstone Family Center. Mr. Warner and Mrs. Barney deserve a round of applause for coordinating this meaningful service event for our school and especially for our hard-working and gracious 5th-grade students. Want to do more to support the Richstone Family Center? The center's Pier-to-Pier Walkathon is coming up on

Next week is our April break. Make sure you and your students have enough books to read! Pennekamp parents may borrow up to ten books at a time from the school library.

When we return from break, we start the last leg of the school year. Wiith hundreds of books circulating at any given time, it does take a while to round them up and put them away properly. If you have been receiving overdue notices or notice library books that have been around the house for a long time, it's time to begin finding and returning those books. If a book is lost or damaged beyond repair, please make payment for it in exact change or a check made payable to MBUSD. Thank you for helping maintain our outstanding library collection.

If you have come to the library website because you are looking for either the music video by OK GO or the United Nations World Food Day game, "How Much Water Is on Your Plate?" please click over to Weekly Readalouds, where those links can be found.

This week and next I am focusing on books about science and scientists (because next week is Pennekamp's Science Week); and on books about baseball, which is starting up right now and which provides an interesting window on American culture and history. 5th-grade has completed their Catalog Search Hall of Fame endeavor, which has dominated library time for the past few weeks, so this week we will without fail finish Queen of the Falls, by Chris Van Allsburg.

This is an exciting time of year to be a Pennekamp Dragon. Having just done the talent show, our students (and teachers and parents) are preparing for the Richstone Feast on the evening of Thursday, March 22. This is a fundraiser for the Richstone Family Center, which "is dedicated to preventing and treating child abuse, strengthening families, and preventing violence in families, schools, and communities" (from the organization's website). This is a fun event that gives 5th-grade students a chance to do some hands-on community service by organizing and serving dinner for dozens of guests. Tickets for both early and late seatings are still available from the school office.

Then, next week, Thursday, March 29, is Family Science Night--the high point of Pennekamp's Science Week. Hugely popular last year, Family Science Night this year will offer many educational displays and workshops on a great variety of science topics. Featured events are a show by Mad Science, visiting robots from Beach Cities Robotics, and the chance to meet a real astronaut. Also that night students who chose to do a science fair experiment will be displaying their projects in the cafeteria. Family Science Night starts at 6:00 p.m. and is free of charge.

As busy as everyone is, school events such as these enrich our everyday lives and will one day be treasured family memories. Please consider taking an hour or two out of the weekly routine to attend both of these great events.

This is Brain Awareness Week. Grades 4 and 5 will be seeing print and internet resources about the brain. Grade 4 will also hear the humorous brain-themed picture book Tuff Fluff: The Case of Duckie's Missing Brain, by Scott Nash. Grade 5 is hearing The Brain, by Seymour Simon, and looking at various print and internet resources about the brain. Brain Awareness week provides an opportunity to talk about taking care of your brain, including diet, sleep, the need to wear a helmet, and the seriousness of sports-related brain injuries. For adults who wish to improve memory, decision making, and other brain functions, check out the brain-training site Luminosity.

Students in DK, Kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd grades will be hearing books related to Saint Patrick's Day. DK did not have time for their baseball books last week, so we will do them this week. 1st grade will be hearing about the remarkable folk artist Grandma Prisbrey and her bottle village, in honor of Women's History Month. The bottle village is located in Simi Valley and can be visited, but reservations are required. Sadly, the village is somewhat deteriorated, but preservation efforts are ongoing.

The book club for grades 4 and 5 will be meeting this week, on Wednesday, March 16. Pre-enrollment is required. This month's selection is Igraine the Brave, by Cornelia Funke.

Next week the library will be closed from 8 to noon on Thursday, March 24, and all day Friday, March 25. I must attend training sessions at that time to support our new circulation and cataloging software. Classes that normally visit the library during those times have been rescheduled, as follows:

Barney: Wednesday, March 23, 12:20-12:45Rumble: Thursday, March 24, 12:10-12:45Harding: Thursday, March 24, 2:15-2:45Warner: Monday, March 21, 2:15-2:45Ahrens: will not attend library that week

On Saturday I happened upon the Manhattan Beach Little League opening day parade, which put me in the mood for books about America's Pastime, baseball! Grades DK, K, 1st, 3rd, and 4th will all be hearing picture books or short stories about baseball and its relationship to American culture and history. DK students will also be hearing books on inventions, to support their study of levers, pulleys, and other simple machines. Grade 2 will be hearing a picture book biography about Mary Anning, lifelong fossil hunter, who discovered the ichthyosaur at the age of twelve. Grade 5 will hear Independent Dames, which highlights the contributions of women at the time of the American Revolution. March is Women's History Month, so all month I will be choosing books that show the contributions of women to politics, science, sports, and art.

The book club will not be meeting this week but will meet on March 16. Our selection is Igraine the Brave, by Cornelia Funke. Members in attendance will be voting on the three books we have read, which are the nominees in the Intermediate category for the California Young Reader Medal.

On February 26, I had the pleasure of attending the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Children's Books and Literacy Dinner. Many authors were in attendance. Speakers included Judy Blundell (Jude Watson), Brandon Mull, Andrew Smith, and Dr. Cuthbert Soup, and emcee Cecil Castellucci.

Barbara Siegemund-Broka, library media specialist, maintains this blog to inform Pennekamp students and families about library news and related content. Any opinions expressed here are solely her own.

What's Ms. Barbara reading?

Chomp, by Carl Hiaasen​

﻿Worth repeating:﻿

"Along with her contemporaries Ellen Tarry and Ezra Jack Keats, Gyo [Fujikawa] made books that opened the door for today's conversations about diversity. She started with an empty white page and a wish for a bigger, better world and laid out a whole dream--inviting publishers, teachers, readers, future writers, and illustrators to imagine a more inclusive future."

--It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way, written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Julie Morstad